(LOT 296)
1955 All American Sports Club 32-Card Uncut Sheet (9"x12") That Includes Bill Russell's Pre-Rookie Issue!
The 1955 All-American Sports Club multi-sport card set consisted of 500 black and white cards across baseball, basketball, boxing, football and golf (& tennis). Initiation into the American Sports Club during the mid-1950s included a complete set of cards on 14 - 32-card uncut sheets with the final holding only 20 athletes. Each glossy, thin-stock sheet, measuring 9" x 12", featured many of the professional athletes at the top of their game including ball players: Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Pee Wee Reese, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle Jackie Robinson; basketball players: George Mikan, Bob Cousy, Bill Russell: football greats: Ernie Stautner, Chuck Bednarcik, Lou Groza, Don Shula; and golfers: Babe Zaharias and Sam Snead, among so many others. These blank-backed 1-7/16" x 2-1/8" individual hand-cut cards also possessed a number believed to allow collectors to select and order larger images of the player.

Offered is an uncut sheet numbered from #33-64 that includes #61 Bill Russell, two years prior to his rookie debut, in minimally Near-Mint to MINT condition, though many collectors may consider this example much nicer as if stored and saved by a professional archivist. In 1955, Bill Russell was only a budding star for San Francisco, as indicated on his #61 issue, but he led the Dons to back-to-back championships in 1955 & '56, which included 55-consectuive victories. This 1955 issue of Russell is equivalent to the minor league releases of Babe Ruth's 1914 Baltimore News or Joe DiMaggio's 1934-35 Zeenuts in that that these "pre-rookie" cards remain exceedingly rare and exceedingly desirable. There are exactly 1,300 total 1955 All American Sports Club hand-cut cards graded and listed on the PSA Pop report with a paltry 26 example of Russell's #61 with five 9s and only two 10s. Over the past few years with the pricing surges across the hobby, PSA 9s have drawn prices from $4,000-6,000 while the most recent auction result for a PSA 10 GEM MINT sold for an astounding $66,000 in March of 2022. This extremely rare 32-card uncut sheet, of which the significance cannot be overstated, featuring one of the greatest centers in basketball history has been preserved for more than 67 years and should be positioned prominently in the finest of collections.

MIN BID $3,500